Where did you install Firefox from? Help Mozilla uncover 3rd party websites that offer problematic Firefox installation by taking part in our campaign. There will be swag, and you'll be featured in our blog if you manage to report at least 10 valid reports!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Group By Sort breaks sorting by date

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by f_lenk

more options

I switched to Thunderbird 115 Supernova a couple of months ago. All was well for some weeks, but then a weird problem developed.

I've always used Group By Sort, a huge help in organizing my endless flow of email. But now, when I enable Group By Sort, Thunderbird randomly mixes new and old messages - the list shows recent messages from 2023, then skips to 2022, then goes back to 2023 again. (See attached image.) I can't see any pattern to it. This problem affects all my email folders and sub-folders.

I've tried all the obvious things - changing sort direction and column, using Repair Folder from the Properties dialog, etc. My only fallback at this point is to use Unthreaded view, which seems to sort correctly.

Needless to say, this is incredibly annoying. I was hoping Supernova would improve my life, instead it seems to have broken one of my favorite features. (My last resort will be to revert to pre-Supernova Thunderbird... if that's even possible.)

I've searched up and down the Internet, can't find any discussion of this problem. Can anyone help with this?

I switched to Thunderbird 115 Supernova a couple of months ago. All was well for some weeks, but then a weird problem developed. I've always used Group By Sort, a huge help in organizing my endless flow of email. But now, when I enable Group By Sort, Thunderbird '''randomly mixes new and old messages''' - the list shows recent messages from 2023, then skips to 2022, then goes back to 2023 again. (See attached image.) I can't see any pattern to it. This problem affects all my email folders and sub-folders. I've tried all the obvious things - changing sort direction and column, using Repair Folder from the Properties dialog, etc. My only fallback at this point is to use Unthreaded view, which seems to sort correctly. Needless to say, this is incredibly annoying. I was hoping Supernova would improve my life, instead it seems to have broken one of my favorite features. (My last resort will be to revert to pre-Supernova Thunderbird... if that's even possible.) I've searched up and down the Internet, can't find any discussion of this problem. Can anyone help with this?
Attached screenshots

All Replies (1)

more options

In case anyone ever needs to know, it looks like there's a workaround. Instead of sorting by 'Received,' sort by 'Date.' Sort order is correct with Date. I believe the bug with Received is scheduled to be fixed - clearly, Group by Sort should work with any choice of sort.

Meanwhile, my inbox is looking less cluttered again. Thanks, Thunderbird team!